Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1887-03-26
PROGRESS on EIEcTRIc lIcHrIse.


EteEtFlC4& LltEtttI-
when the last esnsas vas taken, 20
Wit, IN 1850, the census man did not CO..
si6er the electric lighting Investment OF
sufficient importance 20 warrant BIN IN
esilseting the data. Capital was at that
time IN q coalition which might Be
csIled undecided. % far as the electric
lighting field vas concerned The great
promise that had besn made for electric
lighting By ill-advised persons had not
then been realized. and the cifhcalties
Ia the way-difsicaltie which. Il should
Be said, always array themselves IN the
path Of novel eDtefpFises-seemea 70
present an insaperable barrier TO the de-
velopmeut which. 81 that time, vas
tboughtlessly promised and Is nos be
Tag realized. We say thouRhtlessiy
promised because, while s1ch develop
ment vas not an impossibility in the
fu4ure, the claims that we're made OF
immediate profits we're absurd, and in
vestors unfamiliar with the field and its
possibilities. who bad bees encouraged
By these rash promises 10 come In, we're
soon stsmpeded.
Bat there we're men With brains, IS
well az capital. in the electric light
business. II was enough for them that
the prospects were bright, without that
they got an immediate profit. The de-
mand for the light increased as the
apparatus fer its distribution vas per-
fected. and as improvement vas con-
slant, the business grew. AT first, as We
have said, IL vas SLOW, then faster. until
finally IL sprang into public favor at
bound, and - BOW recognized rs one Of
the best paying Industries. We say that
its rise and progress have been phenom-
email, and IL any one doubts IL let him
study the following figures, which We
have carefully collected from the best
known sources, and are approximately
correct:
Amount Of investment in vol
tale arc plants In the United
States on Nov. ], 1886. ..... $37. C)0,000
fneandescsnt plant. 10000
Investment by manufacturers
Of are and incandescent
plants ........-............ 10.UUV,oUO
Invested in manufacturing
other apparatus connected
with electric light appara-
tbs. including conduits,
cables, etc. l5.OJO,c00
Invested in the manufacture
OF oarbons. about. ~ 100000
Estimate Of the value Of
patents. as made at the
Patent Odoe by experts. 1900 900
Total ................$ l07, 900 600
Aud how long has it taken for this
vast suun 10 be attracted to the electric
lighting field7 Only SIX yearsi Looking
at the rate Of progress, we find that from
1881 10 1882 the business Of supplying
electric light almost doubled, and has
doubled year by year ever since. Il
cannot, OF course, 90 on at any such rate
AS this much longer. for, IS we know,
the doubling pro cess, il continued, soon
mounts into ininity.
We find thRt there are over $50 electric
lighting companies in the country today.
We have been to no little pains 60
collect data looking TO a reliable esti-
mate of the number Of are lights nov
aelow IN the country, because 30 masy
coDjectures have been made and so
much haphazard guessing INDUCED in.
This has not been an easy task, because
OF the disint linRtion Of some OF the arc
companies TO give their returns. From
this survey We discover that al least
10, COO voltaic arc lights are now lighted
nightly-a very pretty showing trulyl
In the incandescence field. a careful
estimate, throwing out all figures of
projected installations and sticking
closely TO what IL really being accom-
pIished TODAY, we fnd that there are
about 6l2.000 and some odd incandes-
cent lamps aelow today in the United
States.
The question as to electric lighting
popularity has always been one Of
economy. No one ever doubted that
electric lighting would be popular. bat
maRy did doub, IL u would ever be
cheap enough to be generally used.
Happily, the cost of distribution, the
cost Of apparatus and Of lamps, has be-
GENE less and less yearly, indeed, We
were about 10 say monthly, for those
who are watching the movement have
been Surprised to see how quickly one
Improvement has TO give way TO another.
Today the cost Of an electric lighting
Pplant Is less than one half what il was
SIX years age, aud there lie every reason
TO believe that six years from Bsv
almost an equal decrease In cost will
have been attained.